


Chains

by Kaatyr



Series: Leopika AUs [4]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe, Human Experimentation, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:47:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29234022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaatyr/pseuds/Kaatyr
Summary: Leorio accepts a government job offer.And soon regrets it.
Relationships: Kurapika/Leorio Paladiknight
Series: Leopika AUs [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1912081
Kudos: 27





	Chains

Leorio has no idea what to expect when he accepts the job offer. It’s a government job, with great pay and benefits. Sure, he’ll have to move to some backwater town that’s so small it’s not even marked on any maps, but his employer will pay all of his living expenses. Sounds like a pretty good deal to Leorio.

Until he finds himself entering what appears to be an abandoned church. Until he finds himself descending down a long, dark elevator shaft. Until he finds himself walking down a white hallway, doors lining both sides, each one secured with a sophisticated-looking card reader.

Until he finds himself standing in the doorway of one of those rooms, staring at its occupant.

It’s a young man with untidy blond hair. He’s sitting (or rather, is strapped) to a chair in the centre of the room. He’s wearing a straightjacket, and his eyes burn a hateful, hellish crimson as he glares at Leorio. Behind him, a woman wearing a white laboratory coat prepares a rather long and sharp needle.

The man’s lips curl into a sneer as Leorio’s companion speaks.

“Subject K-14 is our latest success. The eyes are a problem, though. They’re a little too memorable, but contacts can fix that...”

Leorio listens, silently horrified, as he’s informed that this young man is an unwilling test subject in a government experiment that aims to unlock supernatural abilities dormant in human genes, with the aim of creating agents to be used in covert international operations.

Leorio has been assigned to monitor K-14’s progress as his supernatural abilities manifest. K-14 is able to conjure chains out of thin air. Leorio gets an up-close-and-personal demonstration when K-14 manages to use those chains on him. Luckily, one of Leorio’s colleagues sedates the subject in time to prevent Leorio from being choked to death.

“He’s definitely blood-thirsty enough to make a good operative,” Leorio’s colleague jokes as Leorio coughs and massages his throat. K-14 is cradled in the colleague’s arms, looking rather soft and delicate in the larger man’s hold.

“Back again?”

Leorio barely bats an eye at K-14’s sneer as the door of K-14’s cell closes with a click behind him. Leorio is unaccompanied today as K-14 is already restrained, strapped to a gurney.

“You know, if you just played nice, you could earn yourself better accommodations,” Leorio informs him as he begins to take the subject’s vitals. “Some of your fellows have already left the facility.”

“Some of them in bodybags,” K-14 replies bitterly.

“Yeah. That’s a damn shame,” Leorio agrees. He wishes he could show K-14 more comfort, but he has a feeling that K-14 would see that as insulting. Leorio is one of his captors, after all. Still, Leorio does his best to alleviate K-14’s suffering. He is quick and accurate with the needles, he always tries to be honest about the effects of whatever test he is ordered to do, and he talks to K-14 like he is a person, not an object.

All he gets from K-14 in return is abuse, but Leorio supposes that is fair enough.

“Why do you do this?”

K-14’s question causes Leorio to pause. The answer seems rather obvious to him.

“I have to run blood tests to make sure you’re not suffering any ill effects from your use of nen.”

K-14, or Kurapika, as Leorio now knows is his name, looks at him like Leorio is the stupidest person he’s ever met.

“That’s not what I meant,” he snaps, then bites his lip as Leorio inserts the needle into his arm. Dark red blood begins to pump into the syringe. “I meant, why do you do this job?”

“Well, honestly I didn’t know what I was getting into when I took this job,” Leorio says. “And once I found out, well, it was too late to back out.”

Leorio removes the needle from Kurapika’s arm, caps the syringe and wipes the injection site clean.

“At least they asked you,” Kurapika mumbles sourly.

Leorio’s heart aches. Kurapika is rapidly becoming one of the most promising subjects in the program. He excels at every test given to him—both physical and mental. His control over his nen is exceptional.

But something inside Kurapika is slowly cracking under pressure. Leorio knows the signs. He’s experiencing the same thing himself.

The only thing that keeps Leorio going is the dreams. He dreams of helping Kurapika escape, the two of them running away together to some foreign country where they could live in some nowhere town where no one knows anything about them. Leorio would set up a little clinic and earn enough money through treating the locals’ coughs and colds to support himself and Kurapika.

Leorio shares nothing of his fanciful dreams with Kurapika, who has become quiet and withdrawn lately as the date of his transfer approaches. Leorio has no idea where Kurapika will be taken—only that Leorio will not see him again.

Leorio has only two months left on his contract, and he does not plan on renewing it. Upon termination of his contract, he’ll be paid an eye-watering sum of money and he’ll be free to move on with his life.

Kurapika won’t be free, though. He won’t be free even when he leaves this secret, underground hell.

The alarms wake Leorio mid-morning, though he only knows it’s mid-morning thanks to the clock on the wall. Time here is measured not by the never-ending dance of the sun and the moon, but in the ticking of a clock’s hand. Even time bends to the will of humans in this godforsaken place. Leorio rouses quickly, pulling on his clothes before peeking out of his room. He sees two other employees doing the same thing, both as confused and wary as Leorio is.

“Is it a fire drill?” one asks.

“I don’t think so. There’s no announcement,” the other says.

The order to evacuate comes through Leorio’s work phone. He’s told to leave all his belongings in his room and make his way immediately to the elevator.

Leorio and his two new companions are halfway there when they encounter someone.

The blond hair and cold, blood-red eyes are unmistakable—memorable, as Leorio had been told on his first day. The chains are equally as memorable. Leorio can still feel the cold phantom of them wrapped around his throat. Just like that day, Leorio loses his breath.

“Kurapika.”

Kurapika doesn’t flinch at the sound of his name. Likewise, he doesn’t acknowledge it. As Leorio stares into Kurapika’s depthless eyes, he understands that whatever he’d feared would break in Kurapika has broken.

The government wanted a killer. The blood staining Kurapika’s hands and black suit indicate that they have one.

Leorio hopes they’re proud.

Leorio smiles sadly, and waits, knowing that he isn’t getting out of this alive. He leans against the wall and watches Kurapika’s chains fly at his companions. They barely make it two steps before Kurapika is on them, his chains hampering their escape.

Kurapika is quick, at least. The two men barely suffer. Perhaps Kurapika learned that particular brand of mercy from Leorio himself.

When Kurapika straightens and turns to him, face as remote as the icy peak of a mountain, Leorio doesn’t react.

Kurapika holds out his hand, palm up. His expression does not change.

Leorio reaches out his own hand, slow and careful. Kurapika’s palm is warm, though the rings on his fingers dig into Leorio’s skin.


End file.
